Our hotel is notorious for serving multiple potato dishes during lunch and dinner. It is both a blessing and a burden. Here is a list that ranks them from best to worst:
- Potato Wedges
- Triangular Hashbrowns
- Happy Face Potato Cakes
- Potato Balls (like deep-fried balls of mashed potato)
- Roasted Potatoes (served with a Chinese style gravy and beef)
- French Fries
- Chinese Potato Cakes
- Mashed Potatoes
Potato chip flavors in China are quite interesting. Lay’s brand has the most unique flavors. They include Italian Meat Sauce flavoring, Mexican Chicken Tomato flavoring, Lime flavoring, and Texas Grilled BBQ flavoring. All of Lay’s flavorings are delicious, definitely try them when visiting China. Pringle brand flavors include Cumber and Tomato. Both of these Pringle flavors are not that good, stick to original Pringles. Random Chinese brand chip flavors that I have tried include Steak and American flavoring. The Steak flavored chips were surprisingly good and tasted savory. The American flavoring was simply salt (I anticipated a BBQ flavor). One observation I have made about all Chinese chips is that they are all smaller in diameter than the chips back in the United States. I am wondering whether Chinese chips use a smaller variety of potato as compared to the United States’ Russet Burbank potato? Having studied the political ecology of Russet Burbank potatoes in the United States, I am now curious as to what kind of potato is most widely used here in China and who is growing these potatoes. Who, what, where, & how?